One of Labor’s election promises on energy and emissions is to strengthen the existing cap-and-trade system for big carbon emitters, known as the Safeguard Mechanism. Under this, big polluters are required to buy or surrender carbon credits to offset any direct emissions that exceed an agreed-to baseline. Labor’s plan is to reduce the emissions baselines for these emitters over time. “The government will then need to resist industry pressure to keep the ambition low,” Jotzo says, warning that industry will lobby hard for baselines to be eased.
This is exactly what happened under the coalition government after it set up this cap-and-trade
→ Continue reading at Wired - Science